The Japanese Animation Network / Animation News Service

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mbanu
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The Japanese Animation Network / Animation News Service

Post by mbanu »

A 1995 summary:
In the Summer of 1987, Roy Bruce organized a Richmond, Virginia anime club as a chapter of the Cartoon/Fantasy Organization, called C/FO-CVA (Cartoon/Fantasy Organization of Central Virginia). During the breakup of the C/FO in early 1988, the C/FO-CVA became the Japanese Animation Network (JAN). Over the next year, the JAN worked to gain IRS acceptance as a non-profit organization under US Tax codes.

In late 1988, the JAN became registered with the IRS as a non-profit, tax-exempt, charitable organization as listed under sections 501(c)3 and 502(a)9 of the US Federal tax code. In doing so, it became the first anime organization in US history to achieve this status.

From 1987 through 1993, the Japanese Animation Network published a fanzine which became semi-pro in 1992, known first as "Anime No Shimbun" and then as "Animation News Service". In these publications, the JAN was able to find a forum for amatuer and professional art, synopses, reviews, news, fiction, and items of cultural interest.

In 1993, Roy and Cathy Bruce (his wife) placed the JAN on inactive hiatus due to the fatal illness of his mother and for other personal and professional reasons.

In 1994, the JAN changed its registered name from the Japanese Animation Network to the International Animation Sodality (a sodality, FYI is an educational organization with charitable goals) [IntAS]. Upgrades in hardware and software were made in preparation for a resumption of services in 1995. These upgrades included finally being able to access the internet.

In June, 1995, IntAS tried to resume publication in a new newsletter, "IntAS Presents: P.o.V: Persistence of Vision". From difficulties with the printers, the raised cost of postage, and other business related problems, it became apparent that the printing of fanzines and newsletters was no longer cost-efficient or competitive. At the same time, for unrelated reasons, Roy suffered a mild heart attack from which he is still recovering. Currently, IntAS has been put back on inactive hiatus status.
(https://groups.google.com/forum/message ... ux1M5HLZ8J)

Also worth noting that the Animation News Service was distinct from Jonah Morgan's 1998 Anime News Service. (^_^) Not sure if the club or publication survived beyond Roy Bruce's death in 2003.
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Re: The Japan Animation Network / Animation News Service

Post by mbanu »

More details from the FAQ, from an archived version of the club's website:
-- I've never heard of the JAN before, yet you say that you've around since 1987.
-- I remember your organization, but I heard that it disbanded in 1993.
-- I wrote to your organization, but never received a reply.

From late 1993 to late 1997, the director of the organization, R. C. Bruce, underwent a series of devestational problems. During this time, no one showed any interest in assuming his duties, and the organization was little more than a local fan club. We apologize fo not sending out any information during this time, but there was honestly none to be sent.

-- I remember that your organization used to publish things. Are the publications still available?
During the period between 1987 and 1994, we published the following:

Anime No Shimbun, the Newspaper of Animation 1987-1991
Animation News Service 1991-1992
ANS 1993, 1998
Anime 2000 1991
The Con-Spiracy Anime Guide 1994
JANNEWS 1991-1992
JANPALS 1991-1993
The Magic Lantern 1994-1996, 1998
Memory Albums:1990-1993
Orange Road
Orguss
Ranma 1/2
Urusei Yatsura


None of the back issues are currently available, though we may at some future date offer them on CD-Rom or place some of the articles from these earlier publications on this site.

-- Why did you stop publishing?
There were several reasons: First, there were the costs of printing and postage, which (if we were to remain competitive) would have priced us out of the market, as we had no support from any university, college, or commercial group. We have now switched entirely to electronic publishing, which is availalble free, thanks to geocities and others, to anyone with web connectivity.
(http://web.archive.org/web/200212112032 ... g/FAQ.html)
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Re: The Japanese Animation Network / Animation News Service

Post by mbanu »

Image
(http://www.anikionline.com/fame/Arctic_ ... on/aa.html)

A 1988 letter from Roy Bruce to William Chow of Arctic Animation fame.
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Re: The Japanese Animation Network / Animation News Service

Post by mbanu »

Image
(http://archive.org/details/Megalordapa- ... Issue11987)

A 1987 APA contribution by Roy Bruce outlining his fandom bio and the start of C/FO - Central Virginia.
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Re: The Japanese Animation Network / Animation News Service

Post by Drew_Sutton »

Reading Roy's APA intro is, to me, really amazing the change in what's considered personal information now versus then, and how handily people were willing to give it out. Thinking of myself and my fandom in my early twenties, I was talking about cartoons under pseudonyms and was hesitant to give out an email address - Roy's giving out an address, phone number and exact birthdate (!!!).
Roy Bruce wrote:So it is with Robotech -- One cannot reasonably compare it to Macross, Southern Cross and Mospeada because it is NOT THE SAME.
Was this a frequently held opinion? I can see where he might have been going with that - and think there's a very good discussion in it - but saying that now, robot dorks will use that as some call to arms. My perception of 80s fandom, saying that would be infinitely worse and get you some real nuclear heat.

Also, the thing about showing Robotech episodes out of order, I think I'd heard of that before but I thought it was some fluke or something and once the station manager realized it, they had fixed it an it was never something like crossing from one story arc to the next inexplicably. Was that a lot more common and less-fixed than I thought it was?
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Re: The Japanese Animation Network / Animation News Service

Post by mbanu »

Drew_Sutton wrote:Reading Roy's APA intro is, to me, really amazing the change in what's considered personal information now versus then, and how handily people were willing to give it out. Thinking of myself and my fandom in my early twenties, I was talking about cartoons under pseudonyms and was hesitant to give out an email address - Roy's giving out an address, phone number and exact birthdate (!!!).
I wonder if it's generational... I mean, the early internet was all about pseudonyms, but then Facebook happened, which was all about putting everything out there. If you were to divide it up by generations, the pseudonym web would be Gen-X while Facebook would be Millennials. Going backwards you have the tell-all Boomers and then the "I don't want to end up on a government watchlist" Silent Generation.

On the other hand, it's easy to deflate such a theory by pointing out that demographically Roy Bruce was a Gen-X'er, so who knows. (^_^)

I get the impression that he was hungry to talk to anyone who might share his passion; I imagine identity theft wasn't really seen as quite the concern in 1988 that it is today. :)
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Re: The Japanese Animation Network / Animation News Service

Post by zimmerit »

Drew_Sutton wrote:
Roy Bruce wrote:So it is with Robotech -- One cannot reasonably compare it to Macross, Southern Cross and Mospeada because it is NOT THE SAME.
Was this a frequently held opinion? I can see where he might have been going with that - and think there's a very good discussion in it - but saying that now, robot dorks will use that as some call to arms. My perception of 80s fandom, saying that would be infinitely worse and get you some real nuclear heat.
Can't speak for '80s fandom, but at least in late '90s Robotech fandom, yeah, it kinda was. Things have polarized a lot more in recent decades, particularly in regards to Western-held opinions on Macross 7 and Macross Frontier, but I recall a lot of Robotech fans just thinking of them as entirely different series and being equally excited for developments and new projects regardless of if they were Robotech and Macross. That's from a Robotech fan POV, though, diehards who had already decided Carl Macek was the worst guy ever felt differently.
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Re: The Japanese Animation Network / Animation News Service

Post by davemerrill »

There are plenty of fans who seriously consider Robotech as its own unique IP separate from Macross, Southern Cross, and Mospeada. I mean, there are thirty years of ancillary productions - comics, novels, original animated releases - all based on that premise, and there are a lot of full-on admitted Robotech fans who are very interested in the Harmony Gold side of things, even today. God knows why, but they're out there.

What we need to remember in terms of APAs and the publication of personal information is that APAs were not meant for general public distribution - APAs were private members-only groups, and issues of these APAs only went to members and prospective members. Home addresses, phone numbers, and other personal information were frequently published in APAs without much regard to privacy, because after all, these were private, members-only publications. Nobody was putting their home phone and address in APAs expecting this info to go out into the wide uncontrollable world.

I'm honestly not comfortable with the idea of people scanning entire APAs and publishing them online without the permission of or credit given to everyone involved. I realize that after twenty or thirty years the expectation of an invasion of privacy may lessen, but it's still there. For example, my parents still live at the home address and the same phone number that I used in the APAs I was in and the fan clubs I joined, and occasionally even now a piece of junk mail will arrive at my parents that clearly was harvested from some 1980s fandom source.
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Re: The Japanese Animation Network / Animation News Service

Post by Drew_Sutton »

zimmerit wrote:Can't speak for '80s fandom, but at least in late '90s Robotech fandom, yeah, it kinda was. Things have polarized a lot more in recent decades, particularly in regards to Western-held opinions on Macross 7 and Macross Frontier, but I recall a lot of Robotech fans just thinking of them as entirely different series and being equally excited for developments and new projects regardless of if they were Robotech and Macross. That's from a Robotech fan POV, though, diehards who had already decided Carl Macek was the worst guy ever felt differently.
davemerrill wrote:There are plenty of fans who seriously consider Robotech as its own unique IP separate from Macross, Southern Cross, and Mospeada. I mean, there are thirty years of ancillary productions - comics, novels, original animated releases - all based on that premise, and there are a lot of full-on admitted Robotech fans who are very interested in the Harmony Gold side of things, even today. God knows why, but they're out there.
I totally get it now, in 2017, that there's some segmentation just due to the amount of time has passed. I remember when I first watched The Shadow Chronicles film, I was thinking that this is something that I would have like to see more of Robotech (a more original work). I just had the perception that once a fan in the 80s and even 90s got passed "Robotech is made of these 3 different shows..." phase, you got your "Macekre" ink stamping kit with your club membership. Thanks for the insight, guys.
davemerrill wrote:What we need to remember in terms of APAs and the publication of personal information is that APAs were not meant for general public distribution - APAs were private members-only groups, and issues of these APAs only went to members and prospective members. Home addresses, phone numbers, and other personal information were frequently published in APAs without much regard to privacy, because after all, these were private, members-only publications. Nobody was putting their home phone and address in APAs expecting this info to go out into the wide uncontrollable world.
I understood that APAs were nearly synonymous with fanzines, so I thought that they were distributed the same, not that they were a members-only sort of deal. That makes sense why someone would more freely give out personal contact information in an APA.
davemerrill wrote:I'm honestly not comfortable with the idea of people scanning entire APAs and publishing them online without the permission of or credit given to everyone involved. I realize that after twenty or thirty years the expectation of an invasion of privacy may lessen, but it's still there. For example, my parents still live at the home address and the same phone number that I used in the APAs I was in and the fan clubs I joined, and occasionally even now a piece of junk mail will arrive at my parents that clearly was harvested from some 1980s fandom source.
I missed the whole APA scene, so maybe that's why I don't feel the exact same: I agree, it is totally reasonable to blot out the addresses, phone numbers, or other PII (publicly identifiable information) prior to scanning and uploading these. But the articles themselves with in-tact byline credit, I don't inherently see a problem with that. I mean, I could see someone proclaiming Legend of the Overfiend being some revolutionary work in an APA thirty years ago and it being kind of embarrassing but, you know, times change and your opinions on media can change. Unless there's other things in APAs that might be more personal than thoughts on cartoons I'm not aware of - mean that innocently: I've only thumbed through one or two APAs I've seen on archive.org and haven't read too much into them.
mbanu wrote:I wonder if it's generational... I mean, the early internet was all about pseudonyms,[...]
Lots of Usenet stuff from the 80s and 90s is filled with real names, both anime and technical mailing lists. Afraid I am going to have to shoot down the generational thing.
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Re: The Japanese Animation Network / Animation News Service

Post by mbanu »

davemerrill wrote:I'm honestly not comfortable with the idea of people scanning entire APAs and publishing them online without the permission of or credit given to everyone involved. I realize that after twenty or thirty years the expectation of an invasion of privacy may lessen, but it's still there. For example, my parents still live at the home address and the same phone number that I used in the APAs I was in and the fan clubs I joined, and occasionally even now a piece of junk mail will arrive at my parents that clearly was harvested from some 1980s fandom source.
From the perspective of someone who never experienced it, one of the most wonderful things about Old School fandom is that it is distinctly regional; clubs had characters of their own built on where they were located, and the resources available in that particular area.

For fans who grew up in the twilight days of anime clubs or after most of them had died, I think fandom is more like /r/anime on Reddit; a poster emerges from the primordial ooze and posts a picture of Lum dressed like Captain Harlock, no source. Is it original content? A repost? Was the poster a real person or an automated bot? It gets 5000 upvotes from other people, bots, or maybe the original poster using duplicate accounts... whatever the source, there is a number and it is going up not down, a number that means that it has attracted the interest of the semi-sentient thing that fandom has become, a mass of interests that exists outside of any Real World place.

Compared to that, seeing fans whose fandom is a product of the place they live, like an anime fandom terroir, is absolutely fascinating, so I can understand the temptation to want to keep location info in, although I agree that it is a privacy problem.

My only hope is that they don't end up being thrown out. (^_^;)
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